Connecting real communities in the digital age
Connecting real communities in the digital age
Connecting real communities in the digital age
Commonwealth is a group-focused directory and people search platform.
Commonwealth is a group-focused directory and people search platform.
Commonwealth is a group-focused directory and people search platform.
Join and Connect
Join and Connect
Join and Connect
Answer a few questions to join the waitlist.
Answer a few questions to join the waitlist.
Answer a few questions to join the waitlist.
Who You Are
A little about yourself and your influences.
Who You Are
A little about yourself and your influences.
Who You Are
A little about yourself and your influences.
Services
The services you might want to offer or source from others.
Services
The services you might want to offer or source from others.
Services
The services you might want to offer or source from others.
Communities
The networks & communities most important to you.
Communities
The networks & communities most important to you.
Communities
The networks & communities most important to you.
WHY COMMONWEALTH
The world is increasingly mediated by digital networks and algorithms.
The world is increasingly mediated by digital networks and algorithms.
The world is increasingly mediated by digital networks and algorithms.
Most digital platforms pull us away from real human communities,
and are controlled by distant and misaligned platform owners.
Most digital platforms pull us away from real human communities, and are controlled by distant and misaligned platform owners.
Most digital platforms pull us away from real human communities, and are controlled by distant and misaligned platform owners.
But we can build an alternative…
But we can build an alternative…
But we can build an alternative…
OUR VISION
A new network built around the real human communities already important in our lives.
A new network built around the real human communities already important in our lives.
Commonwealth is a group-focused directory and people search platform. It will begin with simple directory functionality, letting users create and share profiles within groups that map to communities and organizations in which they are active. But unlike most directory tools, Commonwealth will connect these groups, creating rich ways to search for professional and other useful connections in adjacent or aligned communities, and reinforcing these communities by redirecting activity that has been conducted through outside networks back to them.
It will address a critical problem of our era: Real communities were socially and spiritually fulfilling, as well as professionally and financially rewarding, but globalized institutions and online platforms have strip-mined this, leaving people atomized and their communities barren. This isolates and commoditizes people, and as societal trust declines increasingly fails to support trust-dependent interactions.
Commonwealth will:
1) Build on the trust that remains in real communities to again allow people to make trust-dependent connections.
2) Restore the natural multiplier effect of true communities as individual interactions take place within tighter circles that compound trust over time.
3) Give members greater fulfillment by allowing them to redirect these commercial, cultural, and political activities from distant or scattered institutions and networks to communities of people they care about.
Commonwealth is a group-focused directory and people search platform. It will begin with simple directory functionality, letting users create and share profiles within groups that map to communities and organizations in which they are active. But unlike most directory tools, Commonwealth will connect these groups, creating rich ways to search for professional and other useful connections in adjacent or aligned communities, and reinforcing these communities by redirecting activity that has been conducted through outside networks back to them.
It will address a critical problem of our era: Real communities were socially and spiritually fulfilling, as well as professionally and financially rewarding, but globalized institutions and online platforms have strip-mined this, leaving people atomized and their communities barren. This isolates and commoditizes people, and as societal trust declines increasingly fails to support trust-dependent interactions.
Commonwealth will:
1) Build on the trust that remains in real communities to again allow people to make trust-dependent connections.
2) Restore the natural multiplier effect of true communities as individual interactions take place within tighter circles that compound trust over time.
3) Give members greater fulfillment by allowing them to redirect these commercial, cultural, and political activities from distant or scattered institutions and networks to communities of people they care about.
GOVERNANCE & ECONOMICS
Commonwealth will help communities govern themselves in the digital age, instead of pulling people away to distant platforms.
Commonwealth will help communities govern themselves in the digital age, instead of pulling people away to distant platforms.
In the first stage, simply enabling organization and connection at the group level will reinforce the relationships necessary for self-governance. As the platform develops, we will add features giving members control over group governance and move toward technologies—such as open protocols and data ownership—that allow true digital sovereignty.
Commonwealth will also move toward decentralized ownership, instead of concentrating the profits of the digital economy in centralized platforms. Platform revenues will be shared with members and groups, and members who help grow and strengthen the network will earn meaningful stakes in both specific groups and a global incentive pool. The details of this decentralized ownership model will be solidified over time, but we will track user referrals from the initial waitlist stage, and these will play a significant role in early incentive models.
In the first stage, simply enabling organization and connection at the group level will reinforce the relationships necessary for self-governance. As the platform develops, we will add features giving members control over group governance and move toward technologies—such as open protocols and data ownership—that allow true digital sovereignty.
Commonwealth will also move toward decentralized ownership, instead of concentrating the profits of the digital economy in centralized platforms. Platform revenues will be shared with members and groups, and members who help grow and strengthen the network will earn meaningful stakes in both specific groups and a global incentive pool. The details of this decentralized ownership model will be solidified over time, but we will track user referrals from the initial waitlist stage, and these will play a significant role in early incentive models.
Ready to join?
Ready to join?
By helping launch and build your community, you can play a central role in realizing this new model, and help lead your local community's digital presence
Ready to join?
By helping launch and build your community, you can play a central role in realizing this new model, and help lead your local community's digital presence
